Rainbows
by Serenity Moonshine
Summary: A war has many casualties. Sometimes, the survivors are the ones with the worst wounds.


**Rainbows**

(A/N) This is a challenge fic, and I think it's ok, not too bad. Feedback is much welcomed. REVIEW!!!

Hermione Granger was sitting in a quaint little coffee shop, sipping a cup of coffee. Most witches and wizards preferred Butterbeer, but, being muggle-born, she had grown up drinking coffee. It was raining outside, absolutely pouring, even though it was summer. It seemed as if the gray frostiness would never go away. It reminded her of times before, when it seemed that it would be dark forever.

_Don't think about that!_, she scolded herself angrily. She had managed to not think about it, about _him_ for awhile, but it seemed that the memories would always haunt her. She could remember the last time she had seen him, before _it _happened, before the final battle.

_Flashback_

"_Hermione," he whispered, "I might not survive this battle, ok? But I want you to know, I love you. And that means, if I- I don't come back, move on, ok? The world needs you. I need you. I might not make it, but you have to live. You **have **to." _

_End Flashback_

And he had stared up at her with seriousness in his eyes he had not seen before, a seriousness that compelled her to agree. But she had not realized how trying it would be to move one. She had not anticipated the pain she would go through. For, on that very night, Ronald Weasley was killed protecting Harry Potter.

She did not cry, for all her tears were gone, they had been spilt in days gone by. She had cried her heart out, and now she could not cry any more. It was now a month after his death and still, she could not let go. She was sure that she could, sure that it would not be so hard. It was, quite possibly, the only thing that Hermione Granger was ever wrong about.

But Ron was not the only casualty. Many others had died, including The-Boy-Who-Lived himself. Her heart wrenched for him, but she knew he had embraced death. Once he had vanquished Voldemort, he had nothing to live for. Ever since Voldemort had killed Ginny, he had been naught but an empty shell, and now they were together, finally, even if it was in death.

She was the only one of the famous Trio left, and it made her heart ache painfully, thinking of all the moments that they had been together, laughed together, fought together. Now, she was alone, alone in a sea of people, people who were permanently scarred by the war, and the tragedies following it. Nothing would ever be the same, nothing would ever be anywhere _near_ the same.

She was stuck in this familiar pattern of thought, when a tinkling of bells sounded the arrival of another person. She looked up to see the last person she expected to see.

Cho Chang, the beautiful Asian girl that Harry had fancied way back in 3rd Year.

"Oh, hello Hermione." she said in a cheery voice, "How are you?"

She and Hermione had become tentative friends, but they had never been very close.

"I'm fine." Hermione replied, in a shaky voice, that clearly showed she was not fine at all.

Cho raised an eyebrow.

"Listen. I know it's hard. But you have to move on."

Ravenclaws had always been shrewd, clever, and very to-the-point.

Hermione just stared blankly back at her.

"I know Ron wouldn't have wanted you to spend your days moping about."

She was right. Ron wouldn't have wanted her to do this. He had even said so. And she had promised.

"Even if you think that you can't do it, you have to. You don't have to forget him. You just have to move on. He would've wanted you to. He asked you to live. Is this living?"

No. It was not. She realized that this was not the living that Ron had meant, not just surviving, but really _living_.

"Th-Thanks Cho" she said absently, mind still reeling with her realization.

Cho just smiled warmly, satisfied with herself, and left.

Thinking to herself, Hermione thought back to the times before the war. Her dreams, her ambitions. She had wanted to be a teacher, and it wasn't too late. Hogwarts could always use another teacher. She decided to go this very day. She would get her life back on track. She would fulfill all her dreams, her ambitions. And when her life finished, she would be with him.

With this thought on her mind, she looked out the window once more, and laughed at what she saw. The rain had stopped, and a brilliant rainbow spread across the sky.


End file.
